india's rapid growth is coming at a speed (a speed aided by massive environmental and human justice violations) that will benefit only those who have already benefited.
i call this 'developedment', meaning, more and more development for those who have already developed, but more and more destruction for the 2 crucial pillars of the nation, namely the ecology and the ecology dependent people.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

he came, he spoke and he did not conquer. infact he spoke wrong facts, he eugolised what he saw in just one place (that too a place in which industries are coming up amidst fierece local opposition against forcible land acquisition) and then made weird comments.

i am talking about industrialist swaraj paul's, Lord swaraj paul that is, comments after he visited tata's singur plant. to quote him on his weird statements i put them below,

The shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial one could cause “some little pain” but “there is no choice anymore.” “There is no way agriculture can provide jobs to the satisfaction of the new generation. They need jobs,” non-resident Indian industrialist Lord Swraj Paul told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

“In any country industrialisation is the only solution. China has shown it …they have the manpower and we in India can compete with China with our manpower resources,” he said.

On giving priority to industry over agriculture, Lord Paul said that “though there is a tragic part to it what other way do you have [but industrialisation].” “In the West we did not find any other solution.”

india needs industries. no doubt about that. but what india does NOT need is dirty industries and industries that come amidst brutal land acquisition from the government. to subsidize the 1 lakh rupee car (at that price you can bet lots of subsidies have been thrown at tata's feet) the first thing the not-so-communist government did was to throw away small farmers, contract farmers and poor villagers off their land.

is this model what the 'LORD' wants!!! i don't think so. is this the model his british government practices in britan. i don't think so.

we have another type of industrialization that sunita narain calls correctly as cheap and dirty industrialization. does the 'LORD' wants this type of industrialization. he may want it, but not many hundred millions indians consisting of small farmers, tribals and others who depend on their land.

hold on a second. doesn't this dirty industrialization give jobs. oh yeah. right. let's listen to the kalinganagar people on that: "When we asked if they would agree if the company provided jobs, their answer was equally straightforward. “We have seen the factories that have come up around us, we have seen that they had promised our people jobs when they took away our land. But our people have no jobs and no land. The factories say they cannot employ us because we are not educated, they say they do not need so many people. Why should we believe them now?”

and the 'LORD' says although it is tragic, there is no other way of progress unless industrialization takes over agriculture because 'new generation' wants industries. right. probably the new generation in chennai, in mumbai and in london wants dirty industries in rural areas so that they can sit in comfy offices in the cities and work. for the rural youth and tribals, dirty industrialization is nothing but a huge living hell everyday.

and in india, the worst thing is that all the absurd statements from the 'LORD' is already a reality and in the face of mounting food crisis, indian government is gleefully doing things that the 'LORD' is quoting.

how weird. what the businessman wants, the government is already doing!!! welcome folks on board. welcome to the fake development that we are witnessing in india every minute by politicians, by rich poor businessmen and of course by the media.